In summer, it is well to mix corn-meal with the yeast, and dry it in cakes, in some shady, dry place, turning the cakes often, that they may become thoroughly dry. It requires about one and a half cakes (biscuit-cutter) to make four medium-sized loaves of bread. Crumb them, and let them soak in lukewarm water about a quarter or half an hour before using.
To make the Bread.
Ingredients: Flour, one and a half cupfuls of yeast, lukewarm water, a table-spoonful of lard, a little salt.
Put two quarts of flour into the bread-bowl; sprinkle a little salt over it; add one and a half cupfuls of yeast, and enough lukewarm water to make it a rather soft dough. Set it one side to rise. In winter, it will take overnight; in summer, about three hours. After it has risen, mix well into it one table-spoonful of lard; then add flour (not too much), and knead it half an hour. The more it is kneaded, the whiter and finer it becomes. Leave this in the bread-bowl for a short time to rise; then make it into loaves. Let it rise again for the third time. Bake.
Mrs. Bonner’s Bread.
This is a delicious bread, which saves the trouble of making yeast. Twenty-five cents’ worth of Twin Brothers’ yeast will last a small family six weeks. I would recommend Mrs. Bonner’s bread in preference to that of the last receipt. It is cheaper and better, at last, to always have good bread, which is insured by using fresh yeast each time.
For four loaves: At noon, boil three potatoes; mash them well; add a little salt, and two and a half cupfuls of flour; also enough boiling water (that in which the potatoes were boiled) to make rather a thin batter. Let it cool, and when it is at about blood-heat, add a Twin Brothers’ yeast-cake, soaked in half a tea-cupful of lukewarm water. One yeast-cake will be sufficient for four loaves of bread in summer; but use one and a half yeast-cakes in winter. Stir well, and put it in a warm place. At night it will be light, when stir in enough flour to make the sponge. Do not make it too stiff. If you should happen to want a little more bread than usual, add a little warm water to the batter. Let it remain in a warm place until morning, when it should be well kneaded for at least twenty minutes. Half an hour or more would be better. Return the dough to the pan, and let it rise again. When light, take it out; add half a tea-spoonful of soda, dissolved in a table-spoonful of water; separate it into four loaves; put them in the pans, and let it rise again. When light, bake it an hour.
French Bread (Grace Melaine Lourant).
Put a heaping table-spoonful of hops and a quart of hot water over the fire to boil. Have ready five or six large boiled potatoes, which mash fine. Strain the hops. Now put a pint of boiling water (that in which the potatoes were boiled) over three cupfuls of flour; mix in the mashed potatoes, then the quart of strained hot hop-water, a heaping tea-spoonful of sugar, and the same of salt. When this is lukewarm, mix in one and a half Twin Brothers’ yeast-cakes (softened). Let this stand overnight in a warm place.
In the morning, a new process is in order: First, pour over the yeast a table-spoonful of warm water, in which is dissolved half a spoonful of soda; mix in lightly about ten and a half heaping tea-cupfuls of sifted flour. No more flour is added to the bread during its kneading. Instead, the hands are wet in lukewarm water. Now knead the dough, giving it about eight or ten strokes; then taking it from the side next to you, pull it up into a long length, then double it, throwing it down snappishly and heavily. Wetting the hands again, give it the same number of strokes, or kneads, pulling the end toward you again, and throwing it over the part left in the pan. Continue this process until large bubbles are formed in the dough. It will take half an hour or longer. The hands should be wet enough at first to make the dough rather supple. If dexterously managed, it will not stick to the hands after a few minutes; and when it is kneaded enough, it will be very elastic, full of bubbles, and will not stick to the pan. When this time arrives, put the dough away again in a warm place to rise. This will take one or two hours.